VILNIUS - Gintaras Petrikas, former president of the EBSW concern who has been charged with embezzling over 81 million litas (23.5 million euros) worth of investors' funds, has said he is willing to sit down with Lithuanian politicians at the negotiating table.
Petrikas, who has been in the hiding from Lithuanian law enforcement agencies in the U.S.A. for seven years, told the Lietuvos Rytas daily in an interview that if the parliamentary commission investigating his alleged crimes does not work with him Lithuanians will never know "how it really happened."
The ex-president of EBSW claims to have compromising evidence on both businessmen and politicians in Lithuania.
A parliamentary ad-hoc commission is looking into the activities of the EBSW concern that went bankrupt in the 1990s.
Petrikas is suspected of having squandered the EBSW's assets and pocketing over millions of dollars in depositors' funds.
Having spent over a year in a Los Angeles prison, Petrikas is still awaiting a decision on whether he will be extradited to Lithuania.
Petrikas believes that beating the extradition will be hard but not impossible, as the businessman, is currently considered to be bankrupt. Media reports have said the fact that he is a father may be another barrier for extradition.
Petrikas has two underage children who are U.S. citizens, and U.S. legislation is strong on child-parent relationships. Thus the extradition of a father to another country, while his children remain behind in America, could be a convincing argument for Petrikas' attorneys.
